Often, a tag is sewn onto a stuffed animal or other infant toy in order to provide information about the toy and/or its manufacturer, such as instructions for cleaning the toy, the address of the manufacturer, or notice of trademarked or copyrighted features of the toy. Such a tag is generally designed to be relatively inconspicuous and is not intended to be a primary feature of the toy. However, many infants seem to focus their attention on the tag more than on any other feature of the stuffed toy. Often, they seem to spend more time grabbing, biting and sucking on the tags than they spend playing with the actual toy to which the tag is attached. As such, even though adults typically have no idea why the tag is more compelling to infants than the toy itself, it is desirable to give such infants what they want—a toy formed from a plurality of tags.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,427,265 (“the '265 patent”) apparently recognizes infants' fascination with tags, and attempts to capitalize on this fascination by providing a blanket having multiple tags attached thereto. However, while the '265 patent does provide an item having multiple tags, this item is not formed from the tags themselves. Instead, the item is a large article designed to serve other purposes, with a number of tags attached along its perimeter. It would be more desirable for the primary function of the item to be small body which the infant can handle and manipulate with ease, and the primary purpose of which is to allow the infant to engage the tags.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,687 (“the '687 patent”) similarly recognizes this fascination with tags, providing a toy having multiple tags that serve a variety of purposes including amusement, education, and/or third party advertising. However, while the '687 patent does provide a toy having multiple tags, this toy is also not formed from the tags themselves. Rather, the toy disclosed in the '687 patent has a soft stuffed body, to which several tags are attached. It would be more desirable for the toy (or at least a large portion thereof) to be formed primarily from the tags themselves, much like a Koosh® Ball manufactured by OddzOn Products of Campbell, Calif.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,529 (“the '529 patent”) appears to be directed to the Koosh® Ball itself. As those skilled in the art may be aware, the '529 patent (of which the Koosh® Ball is an embodiment) is directed to an amusement device which has a substantially spherical configuration, and which is formed from a large plurality of floppy, elastomeric filaments that radiate in a dense, bushy manner from a central core region. The filaments are sufficiently floppy to collapse on impact, and thus, absorb enough energy to avoid any tendency to bounce. They are also sufficiently dense and floppy that they tend to quickly thread their way between the fingers of a user upon contact with the hand. These features promote sure and quick capture of the device during the act of catching. U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,141 discloses a similar novelty ball having a multiplicity of extending, flexible, whisker-like protrusions, but having far fewer than the novelty ball disclosed in the '529 patent.
While the Koosh® Ball was no doubt a popular item with desirable properties (in fact, it was one of the best-selling novelty items of the late 1980's), it may not be appropriate for certain users, particularly infants. This is true because the Koosh® Ball is formed essentially from a plurality of rubber-band like fibers, which may not be appropriate for infants with a tendency for putting things in their mouths (i.e., most infants). Such a material may even present a significant choking hazard should the fibers break off from the toy.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,099 (“the '099 patent”) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,306,052 (“the '052 patent”) both disclose balls including core elements with multiple loops extending from their exterior surfaces. The loop elements extend outward from the cores of the balls, permitting users to catch the balls simply by allowing one or more of the loops to pass over their fingers (as is the case in the '099 patent), or by using catching devices having specially configured bristles (as is the case with the '052 patent). Again, however, these balls are not appropriate/desirable for infants to play with.
What is desired, therefore, is an infant toy or novelty formed from a plurality of tags such as those customarily found singly on stuffed animals or the like. What is further desired is an infant toy that does not represent a health or choking hazard.